The North Eastern League Cup was a regional Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition held during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, due to the suspension of

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

. Held between 1941 and 1945, the competition was played in two stages each season (autumn and spring), mirroring the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although som ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

dominated the tournament, winning five times overall. Indeed, they appeared in six of the eight finals, only losing the second series in the 1941–42 season. Rangers 'A' (the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

) won both series in the 1943–44 season and Dundee United won the remaining tournament. The North Eastern League Cup helped to contribute to the present-day

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: it was also merged with its Southern equivalent in the 1945–46 season, with the nationwide competition proving popular (the final, won by Aberdeen, attracted a crowd of crowd of 135,000 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

). It was thus continued on those lines on an official basis from then on. As the war ended, regular league football returned in 1946, with the regional leagues and cups disbanded.

1941–42

First Series

Ties played 13 and 20 Dec

Second Series

Ties played 16 and 23 May

1942–43

First Series

Ties played 19 and 26 Dec

Second Series

Ties played 8, 15 and 22 May – the first tie on 8 May was abandoned due to poor weather

1943–44

First Series

Ties played 25 Dec and 31 Jan

Second Series

Ties played 6 and 13 May

1944–45

First Series

Tie played 1 Jan

Second Series

Ties played 23 and 30 Jun

References

Defunct football cup competitions in Scotland Wartime football in Scotland 1941 establishments in Scotland 1945 disestablishments in Scotland Recurring sporting events established in 1941 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1945 {{Scotland-footy-competition-stub